How to insulate the ceiling in a private house

The owner, who is responsible for saving heat in his own home, will have to face the question of its insulation during the construction of a house or its partial repair. As is known from practice, a significant part of the heat, which is about 60%, goes into the environment through the ceiling. In this article we will explain how to insulate the ceiling in a private house with our own hands using various methods, as well as give video instructions.

Choosing the best material

A few decades ago, when there was no such wide choice of materials for insulating ceilings, we had to use any available materials in the form of slag, grass, sawdust and expanded clay. It turned out well, but the ideal result was far away. Expanded clay was considered the most acceptable material, but it is significantly inferior to modern heat-insulating products. 

Mineral wool today is most in demand (? = 0.041? 0.044 W / (m · K)). It turns out of the fibers formed after the processing of slags or rocks of mountain origin, is very similar to ordinary cotton wool. Release form - mineral wool or rolls with a density of 20 kg / m? up to 200 kg / m ?. According to its characteristics, any wool is noise-proof, has high sound insulation properties, is not combustible, but is a favorite habitat for mice.

Any cotton wool has a significant drawback, which is a high moisture absorption, up to 70%. Having absorbed a small amount of water, the material loses up to 50% of its thermal insulation properties. Hence the conclusion - to use mineral wool to perform external work makes no sense.

Insulation methods

In your own home, you can insulate the ceiling using two methods - both from the inside and from the outside of the building. Both methods are effective because they do not allow heat to leave the house and lead to savings in the cost of heating appliances. The effectiveness of insulation depends not only on the technology used, but also on the materials. Materials are divided into two broad categories according to characteristics.

There are vapor-permeable and vapor-proof materials, which determine the ability of the insulating material to absorb moisture or repel it. From this depends directly on where you can use the insulation - indoors or outdoors.

Internal insulation

If the plans present the insulation of the ceiling of the house with their hands from the inside, then, as mentioned above, you can apply for this purpose mineral wool, purchased in rolls or in the form of plates. This material is an improved glass wool. To reliably block the road to the outgoing heat, mineral wool is combined with a plasterboard false ceiling. The process of creating such a structure can be divided into the following steps:

• Using a perforator and dowel-nails, a structure made of metal or wooden elements is mounted.
• Mineral wool is fixed in the interprofile space with the help of tile adhesive. This adhesive is most effective, since the insulation instantly interlocks with the ceiling. Instructions are attached to the heater, which must be read carefully; it may be necessary to install a vapor barrier layer, which will need to be installed between the ceiling and the heater.
• At the finishing stage, the ceiling is sewn up with plasterboard sheets, which are fastened with red-hot self-tapping screws, which withstand considerable loads.

This installation technology can not be called complex, but there are some tricks that you need to know.

Note! Insulation prior to installation is strictly prohibited to be pressed. Unpressed mineral wool has a certain advantage over pressed. In the normal state, it is saturated with air, which favorably affects the thermal insulation properties of the material and does not prevent the rapid exchange of heat between the room and the attic. 

It should be noted that with such thermal insulation, spotlights feel quite uncomfortable. Energy-saving lamps tend to heat up a little. Since thermal insulation interferes with air circulation, such a lamp cannot be in working condition for a long time - it overheats and fails in a relatively short time. To solve this problem, around the lamp in the layer of insulation can leave a place not filled with insulation, which will contribute to the necessary air circulation. Otherwise, the energy-saving lamp can be replaced with an incandescent bulb or an LED lamp. You can install an ordinary chandelier or wall sconce in which the housekeeper will work stably.

External insulation

If during the winter time in a country house you have to turn on additional heaters, throw warm blankets on yourself and pay extra money for comfort, you should immediately warm the ceiling. You can do it from the inside, as in the first case, but this is a troublesome thing, especially if a repair has been recently made.

The way out is simple - all forces need to be thrown at the insulation of the attic, which is the most suitable place for such work. An additional advantage of this warming is that there is no need to arrange a suspended ceiling, and this reduces the scope of work. The better to warm the ceiling of concrete slabs in a private house? Sheets of polyfoam will suit as well as possible:

• It is necessary to free the attic, remove garbage and completely clean the insulated area to concrete slabs.
• After measuring the space of the entire attic room, you need to purchase a certain number of sheets of foam from 4 cm thick. Instead, polystyrene can be used instead of this material, but it costs twice as much.
• The entire attic floor evenly keeps foam sheets, which are fixed at the joints with construction foam.
• Depending on the purpose of the attic, the work at this stage can either be completed, or the installation work can be continued to further build the attic. To prevent the foam from cracking under your feet and the floor to look good, the warming material is covered with a reinforcing mesh made of metal and a layer of concrete screed is poured in, which after drying will become a reliable floor. The screed must be at least 5 cm thick.

Now, how to lay mineral wool:

• The attic is thoroughly cleaned to a clean floor.
• Preliminary measurements of the room are carried out.
• With the help of a log, the foundation of the future floor is made.
• Lags are lined with vapor barrier, preferably glass asphalt.
• Mineral wool is laid in the form of slabs between the lags. It should fit tightly in the cell, but without excessive compaction, which can degrade the quality of insulation.
• Then you can lay the boards, plywood, perform floor covering.

Note! In order for the ceiling to let in less heat, slabs of mineral wool should be laid in two layers with dressing on the brickwork principle. The top sheet should cover the pairing of the two bottom sheets.

Video

After watching this video, you will learn about the advantages of eco-wool and the technology of weatherization using it: